BEHAVIORAL ANOMALIES OF HIGHLY MALIGNANT RESPIRATORY-TRACT EPITHELIAL-CELLS

  • 1 January 1984
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 44  (2) , 688-696
Abstract
Cells from highly malignant [rat] epithelial lines showed common anomalies in the organization of the lamellar cytoplasm. Cell movements were recorded by a time-lapse video process. For each frame analyzed, representing a 15-min real-time interval, the distance traveled and the angle of travel relative to a fixed axis were measured, and the extent of contact between the subject cell and its neighbors was estimated. For the great majority of cells, the direction of translocative movement was random. The mean velocities were in the range of 17-60 .mu.m/h and tended to be greater for cells from the highly malignant lines. Although the frequency of cell-cell contact varied little among lines, the frequency of cells overlapping during contact was much greater for lines of high malignant potential than for lines of negligible tumorigenicity. Striking differences were observed in the behavior of cells plated on glass and plastic substrata. While cells from lines of negligible tumorigenicity adhered well to both substrates, cells from all of the 3 highly malignant lines became rounded or formed spheroidal masses when plated on glass surfaces. The results indicated that gradations of adhesive, although not necessarily motile, properties were correlated with gradations of tumorigenicity in these epithelial model systems.